What qualifications are important for jobs in HR?
Starting a career in Human Resources is more than a simple application, but it’s far from an impregnable fortress, providing you have the right insights.
Why You Should Care
A career in Human Resources is versatile, with lifelong transferable skills, as HR has a presence in every type of business.
Human Resources is more than one large homogenous conglomerate, it’s multifaceted with many specialist spokes.
There are many paths into HR roles, including entry-level positions and degrees.
Human Resources roles are unique in that they are in demand across every organization in every industry. But securing these roles means overcoming a significant obstacle: HR qualifications.
Getting your foot in the door means honing your HR skills, registering for HR apprenticeships and internships, and studying up on HR interview tips.
All of which will help you when starting a career in HR.
What are the main HR roles to consider getting a job in?
Before your illustrious and exciting career in HR can get underway, you need to have an idea of the available roles and which of these best align with your skillset. Once you have a handle on your choices, you’ll be able to investigate entry level HR jobs or the postgraduate HR qualifications necessary to excel.
Essentially, every stage of staff involvement and interaction has a corresponding specialty HR field.
These can be grouped into eight specific categories:
Data entry
Regardless of how big your operation is, every individual that works at your organization needs to be logged and tracked. Their career path should be monitored, absences documented, and payroll information updated as-and-when is necessary.
Recruitment
This involves writing and overseeing internal and external job listings, filtering applicants, and potentially conducting interviews and test exercises. Additionally, Recruitment officers will be asked to follow-up on reference and background checks.
Training and development
Companies looking to improve their competitiveness and staff efficiency, will require a steady flow of up to date, relevant, training initiatives and programs. Which can take the form of on-the-job training or external courses.
Employee relations
One of HR’s key functions is ensuring a smooth and productive working relationship between employer and employee. As such, cultivating positive relations and resolving any disputes or grievances that develop, is paramount.
Company culture
A company’s direction and culture are dictated by the upper echelons of management, but they are promoted and maintained by HR. On top of this, it’s also important for HR to identify areas for improvement and put together action plans for management teams to act on.
Benefits management
This goes above and beyond the standard benefits one would expect in a professional role, and focuses on the administrative upkeep and expansion of employee benefits. This means being able to confidently explain how each scheme works, the impact and ramifications, and handling any complications that should arise.
Working environment
Issues of health and safety encompass both physical and emotional. It’s important to ensure your staff are protected and that the environment they are expected to work in, is a hazard-free, supportive one.
Disciplinary action
When necessary, HR will be brought in to conduct disciplinary procedures. This can range from extreme measures such as early termination, dismissal, and breach of contract, as well as less severe (but equally sensitive) proceedings like suspension, and demotion.
What qualifications do you need for an entry level HR position?
As with most career paths, the journey starts with a college degree. But while it’s advantageous to have a degree with a focus on HR, it’s not an absolute dealbreaker. After all, how many people have the foresight and clear intention to align their educational trajectory to the optimum outcome for a niche role?
A college degree in a related or adjacent field to HR degrees can be just as beneficial.
Something like a business or industrial psychology qualification can act as a solid foundation, which can then be built upon, by working toward industry appropriate certifications.
Similarly, a prolonged period of experience in a live operational role can generate and foster a number of indispensable skills which can be utilized in an HR role. The worst opinion one could have is the belief that a college degree is the only viable route into HR.
This is because HR appropriate skills can be incubated from a number of real-life experiences, it’s just a question of establishing their relevance and ensuring you can bolster them with widely accessible certificates and programs.
Consider an HR internship
Every industry type has an entry point for those keen and hungry to get in on the ground floor. Offering the opportunity to sample a fast-paced, high-demand HR environment, in a way which will help confirm if it is the correct fit for you. This can range from work experience, internships, temporary placements, and other introductory and voluntary roles. Finding these openings, however, can feel like a daunting challenge. Thankfully, there are several sites and resources designed for companies to broadcast these positions, outside of the standard HR jobs market.
Which HR skills do employers find most valuable?
To thrive in an HR environment, you have to develop and hone a specific set of skills. Some of these will feel specialized, but the majority are widely applicable skills that can be utilized across disparate roles.
With HR operating in a fast-paced, ever-changing field, there can be a certain air of perceived pressure. As such, having the adaptability and flexibility to deal with moving targets and the unpredictability of human interaction, is essential. It’s also important to have an inherent curiosity and desire to progress. Without this, your ambitions and objectives will stagnate; stagnation being the antithesis of any successful HR endeavor.
Conscientious communication and emotional intelligence are also vital qualities. As are discretion, trustworthiness, professionalism and dedication. With these tools sharpened and ready, you become an enticing and attractive option for an employer; knowing that these can be put to good use on a regular basis.
What qualifications would you need for a senior HR or manager position?
While a series of transferable skills and relevant qualifications can be immensely useful for an entry level position, senior HR management is an entirely different ballgame. To get ahead in an elevated role, there are particular HR qualifications that are pivotal to progressing.
Many of these are administered by official bodies, such as the Human Resources Certification Institute (HRCI), the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), or the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). And, depending on the part of the world you plan on working in, a host of widely recognized HR qualifications are available to boost any skill you are looking to improve.
Considering a master’s degree in HR
Another clear route to consider is pursuing postgraduate HR qualifications. Because your college degree opens the door to making a significant mark through a master’s degree. Granted, it’s a sizeable investment of time and money, but it arms you with the necessary tools that makes you a valuable asset to any company.
It prepares you for essential strategic planning and thinking. And trains you on how to advise on issues such as employee-employer relations, workforce planning, compensation and benefits.
What’s more, this is an investment in a sustainable and growing future, because there will never not be demand for human resources roles across a host of different industries. In fact, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that employment of human resources managers will grow 7% over the next decade.
But whatever path you choose, whatever role suits your skillset best, there are plenty of inroads available, and several actions you can take to make a career in HR a reality.
Check out the agenda for UNLEASH America 2023 and explore the exciting roster of speakers lined up.
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Staff writer, UNLEASH
Matt’s HR roots run deep, as he spent 15 years working for the NHS, in roles across payroll, HR and finance.
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